Making sense of acute leukaemia:: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experiences of patients and family caregivers
type: CreativeWork
description: Background and objectives: Living with acute leukaemia can challenge patients’ physical, emotional and psychological well-being and functioning, but can be a greatly challenging experience for their families, too. Such a life-changing experience can potentially initiate or accelerate a meaning-making process that may be prolonged and demanding. Yet, there is a dearth of empirical evidence with regard to how adult patients with acute leukaemia or their family carers make sense of their illness-related experiences, and, as a consequence, clinicians still lack the knowledge necessary to tailor support to this specific population. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to explore the processes, through which patients and family caregivers construct their meanings of acute leukaemia. Design and methods: An exploratory design was employed using serial, in-depth interviews, guided by Smith’s Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. Ten adult (>18 years of age) patients with acute leukaemia and eight patient-nominated family caregivers were recruited during a 14-month period from two clinical NHS sites in Scotland. Two serial interviews were conducted with each participant, two to four weeks apart, within the first year of diagnosis or post-relapse. In total, thirty-six interviews were analysed. Results: Findings deriving from patient interviews indicated that acute leukaemia creates a state of imbalance to the person, which may initiate a search for a new equilibrium. Patients’ journeys towards making sense of their illness may involve three inter-changeable processes: decay, transformation and growth. As patients learned of their diagnosis and their treatment commenced, a sense of decay dominated their lives. ‘Feeling like being a prisoner’ and ‘living with an impaired self’ were two common emergent themes. Running in parallel, signs of transformation started to become more evident as time elapsed. Within the third making-sense process, that is to say growth, t…
abstract: Background and objectives: Living with acute leukaemia can challenge patients’ physical, emotional and psychological well-being and functioning, but can be a greatly challenging experience for their families, too. Such a life-changing experience can potentially initiate or accelerate a meaning-making process that may be prolonged and demanding. Yet, there is a dearth of empirical evidence with regard to how adult patients with acute leukaemia or their family carers make sense of their illness-related experiences, and, as a consequence, clinicians still lack the knowledge necessary to tailor support to this specific population. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to explore the processes, through which patients and family caregivers construct their meanings of acute leukaemia. Design and methods: An exploratory design was employed using serial, in-depth interviews, guided by Smith’s Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. Ten adult (>18 years of age) patients with acute leukaemia and eight patient-nominated family caregivers were recruited during a 14-month period from two clinical NHS sites in Scotland. Two serial interviews were conducted with each participant, two to four weeks apart, within the first year of diagnosis or post-relapse. In total, thirty-six interviews were analysed. Results: Findings deriving from patient interviews indicated that acute leukaemia creates a state of imbalance to the person, which may initiate a search for a new equilibrium. Patients’ journeys towards making sense of their illness may involve three inter-changeable processes: decay, transformation and growth. As patients learned of their diagnosis and their treatment commenced, a sense of decay dominated their lives. ‘Feeling like being a prisoner’ and ‘living with an impaired self’ were two common emergent themes. Running in parallel, signs of transformation started to become more evident as time elapsed. Within the third making-sense process, that is to say growth, t…
author: Papadopoulou, Constantina
language: eng
keywords: Leukaemia, Qualitative methods, Phenomenology
date published: 2013
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:07:52Z
provider: University of Dundee
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Dundee